Through the Looking Glass
by MadokaGranger
Summary: Hermione falls through the Mirror of Erised into a world where she is a pureblood, a Slytherin, and for some reason, isn't hated by Draco Malfoy. Her friends have all forgotten her, and she finds herself on the wrong side of the looming war. Only problem? She can't figure out how to get back.


**Author's note: Welcome! Please read, enjoy, and let me know what you think with a review!**

Chapter One: The Mirror

I needed to get out. Just get away from everyone. I was running down the hallway, half worried about covering the tears streaming from my eyes, but mostly just focused on running without tripping over myself. I was still in shock. I felt disgusting. _He _made me feel disgusting. Which way was the common room? Stairs… I dashed up the nearest staircase. It started to rotate, but I didn't care. I just wanted to get out. Does it really matter which room I choose? My eyes were still glazed with tears as I ran down the corridor and finally opened and pushed into a room, closing the door behind me. I slumped to the floor and finally shut my eyes, but my vision was soon greeted with the image of his sneering face. Professor Snape. I didn't understand. This had happened before. I should be used to it by now, right? It was that word though. _Mudblood_. It brought up far too many bad memories. The first time I heard it. I certainly cried back then. But I wasn't a kid anymore. I was seventeen now! A prefect! I was supposed to be an example and I just ran across the castle in tears. I tried to get my breathing under control, but the uneven sharp inhales continued as I fluttered my eyes open and looked around my surroundings. It was a large room. Dusty. Furniture and old cloths filled most of the room. Eager to get my mind at ease, I stood on shaky legs and paced the room. The most unusual thing appeared to be a large tall object toward the back, covered with a large sheet. What was it? A mirror? Maybe. I probably looked hideous. I could already picture it. The bloodshot eyes. Dried tears, run over by the fresh ones. Would I see what everyone else saw? Bookish on the outside and muddy blood on the inside? The moment came rushing back to me.

...

I was late. I hated being late more than anything. Especially like this. There was no one to blame except for myself this time. Even Ron and Harry would have already turned it in. This essay was worth half the grade. I'd finished it last night, then woke up early to study for the Potions exam tomorrow. I got so caught up in studying, I finally looked at the clock and it was 30 minutes after the deadline. Instant panic. I was almost to his office now. Why did it have to be Professor Snape though? Sprout or Flitwick would have been infinitely preferable. I knew he hated me. Thought that I was an insufferable know-it-all. Which, maybe I was at times, but that was beside the point. He should treat his students with some sense of decency. Well, really just the Gryffindors – he doted on his beloved Slytherins. I was almost there now. I stopped, took a quick deep breath and urged myself to look a little less disheveled. I walked through the door.

"Hello, Professor Snape," I began. He looked up from his desk already looking annoyed.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Granger"

"Yes, Professor Snape, it's just, I've got my essay, and I know its late, but I was hoping you'd still accept it. You see, I finished it last night, and this morning –"

"Excuses. Miss Granger." He cut off my babbling. "Deadlines exist for a reason. I didn't wait all this time to teach Defense of the Dark arts, so that I could fail to impress upon my students the dangers and responsibility of the real world. When dealing with the dark arts, a few seconds is the difference between life and death. Thirty minutes? Might as well have never been born. You may think you've got what is takes, Miss Granger, but alas, the truth has come out." He sneered. "You Mudbloods just weren't cut out to be wizards." He stood up, wrenched the essay from my hands and sat back down. "Now get out of my sight."

...

The memory still burned red hot in my mind. What did I do to deserve this? Be born to the only parents I'd ever known, who just happened to be muggles? What difference did it make if they could do magic or not? I could do magic! And that's the only thing that should matter. Of course, I lived in the real world, where unicorns and centaurs existed, but senseless discrimination based on something I could never control would forever prevail. If I could have controlled it, of course I would have chosen to be a pureblood. To learn magic with your parents, to be respected, to be privileged but also have the power to help those who didn't have what you have. How I wished I could have the autocracy to make those decisions for myself.

At this point I was more furious that upset, but it wasn't like I could go curse Professor Snape, so I settled for investigating the tall object in front of me. I pulled off the long cloth which covered the object and let it fall too the floor. I was right: it was a mirror. The edge was golden and ornate. It was such a fancy object to be sitting gathering dust in an abandoned room. Taking a closer look, I found an inscription across the top, "_erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_," it read. The word "erised" sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. Finally, I looked to the mirror to face my reflection, readying myself to see the damage Snape's words had done. But when I caught my own eyes, I gasped. I could see in my eyes that I had been crying, but the appearance and demeanor couldn't have been more different. My hair was silky and straight, longer that it was currently, and I was clearly wearing makeup. I held myself up straight and I had an uncommon air of firm confidence… or was it arrogance? Curious, I drew closer to the mirror, still unsure of exactly what was happening. The figure in the mirror drew closer with me, and I reached a hand forward to meet the mirror's surface. Finally, I notice something I missed earlier. My tie in the mirror. It was green, almost as if… I was in Slytherin? My finger met the surface of the mirror, and without warning, I felt a rush of magic and blacked out.

...

My head hurt. Why was I sleeping on the floor? Better yet, where was I? Oh yeah, that's right. The memories of Snape and my subsequent breakdown came rushing back to me. Which meant, now I was in that dusty abandoned room with the mirror… the mirror! That brought me back quick. I quickly sat up and tried to ignore the ache in my bones from sleeping on the floor for who knows how many hours. I caught sight of the mirror, just a few feet away. I approached, and it took me far too long to notice something was horribly wrong. In the mirror, I could see the room behind me perfectly reflected, every run-down, dusty detail. But entirely missing, was my own reflected figure. This incited instant panic. I pressed both palms to the surface, which in hindsight may not have been the best idea considering what happened to first time I touched the mirror, but where they met the mirror, there was nothing but air reflected on the other side. What the heck did this mean? What happened to my reflection? As weird and off-putting as it was before, it was better than having no reflection at all. This frustrated me to no end, but at the same time, I was physically sore from my unconscious episode on the floor, and emotionally exhausted from the earlier events. I took a deep breath. What I needed right now, was to just go back to my room and rest.

I made my way out of the room containing the mirror and headed back toward Gryffindor tower. I now realized that I must have been very distraught earlier to run all the way to the part of the castle that I did. Now, however, I walked with a slow steady pace. Through the windows overhead, I could see that the sky was beginning to grow dim. I must have been out for a couple hours and just missed dinner. I wasn't really in the mood to eat anyways. I finally reached the last corridor before the entrance to the common room when I ran into Harry and Ron. I wasn't really in the mood to speak to Ron right now given what had been happening with Lavender Brown lately, but Harry was always a welcome comfort. Although, after the day I had, I didn't really have much energy to be mad.

"Hello Harry. Ron," I said with a neutral one.

Quickly, I saw a sneer form on Ron's face. "What are _you_ doing up here, Granger?" He began. "Shouldn't you be down in the dungeon with the rest of your shifty-eyed friends?"

I was shocked, to say the least. And did he just call me Granger? I started to retort, but first I heard Harry speak under his breath to Ron, "Come on, Ron. I know we don't exactly get on, but that's a little harsh, let's just go."

Now I was even more confused. More so than both of their words, I was the distrusting look in Harry's eyes telling me to leave them alone. Ron's face was still twisted in disdain. With zero words left in my mind, they quickly turned toward the common room, and dipped though the entrance. Ron shot me one last look of warning before both of them disappeared.

What had just happened? Did I forget about some argument we had? That didn't make sense – they acted as though we weren't even friends! Ron had even called me Granger! Was it too much to ask for this day to be over? Since I clearly wasn't welcome in the Gryffindor common room, I started to walk back the way I came. Before long, I passed Collin Creevy, presumably on his way back from the Great Hall; however, instead of his usual friendly greeting, he shot me a glare as he passed and continued down the corridor. Now I knew something was definitely wrong. Eagar to get away from more Gryffindor glares, I dipped inside the nearest girl's restroom and stepped toward the sink.

Suddenly everything started to click. In the mirror, I finally saw my reflection for the first time since my earlier blackout. My hair was straight and silky, eyelashes curled with mascara, and around my neck was a green Slytherin tie. I quickly discovered that this time, my real appearance matched the mirror image perfectly. Surely this had something to do with the mirror from earlier as I had taken on the same appearance I had seen earlier. I really shouldn't have touched it like I did. This also had to be the reason for Ron and Harry's treatment of me. Although, a prettier appearance and green tie didn't perfectly explain why they seemed to despise me, it certainly helped. Ron said I should be down in the dungeons, meaning he really thought I was a Slytherin.

As much as I wanted to go to sleep, a good mystery always kicked me into action, and I was determined to figure this out. A good place to start? How about the Slytherin common room – Ron seemed to think I belonged down there, and I had the tie to match.

This time I made quick pace and ignored any glares from my fellow Gryffindors as I trekked down toward the dungeon. Finally, I neared the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Fully aware that I didn't know the password, I planned to loiter around the entrance until someone either let me in or told me to scram. It didn't take long. After what felt like a few seconds the door opened, and I came face to face with Draco Malfoy.

"Oh Hermione," he began. His face kind of lit up, but also looked a little sad. "I've been looking for you but haven't been able to find you since, you know, what happened earlier." He opened the door a wider and turned inside, expecting me to follow him in. I stepped into the common room and took a quick glace around. It was definitely on-theme with the Green and Silver color scheme and gave off the dungeon feel with the stone walls and severe lack of windows. The room was pretty empty, with just a few students gathered around tables studying. Draco led us toward a relatively private nook, finally took a deep breath before saying, "Look, Hermione, I'm really sorry about earlier, and I shouldn't have pushed you like that. And this is really hard for me to say so can you please just accept my apology and we can go on with our lives?" Draco finished, looking at me expectantly.

I was a bit at a loss for words. First, he had called me Hermione. Second, he was acting as though we were friends, and to top it all off he was apologizing! Never had I ever thought this emotionally vulnerable side of Draco Malfoy existed. It was a strange experience, especially being so close and having his piercing blue eyes staring into mine…

Realizing he was still waiting for an answer, and without knowing anything about what was happening, I simply said, "Alright. Fine. I accept your apology Malfoy." His eyebrows down-turned at my mention of his name, and I quickly realized I should have called him Draco. That would take some adjusting to.

"Are you sure you're not still mad?" He asked as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Yes. I'm sure," I responded, not sure what else to do.

"It's just, I know your parents can be frustrating sometimes, and it's really none of my business anyways, so I'll just stay out of it next time."

"My parents?" I said without thinking.

He gave me an odd look. "Yeah, your parents, Helen and Stephen Granger. They work at the ministry. Are you sure you're okay Hermione? You're being awful slow today."

Feeling a little overwhelmed, I quickly responded, "Yeah, I'm fine, I just need a little air." I slid out from his hand, still on my shoulder, and casually bolted toward the nearest stairway, which I hoped led to the girl's dormitory. I heard Malfoy call after me, but I kept walking. He didn't follow, so I just slumped down to gather my thoughts. It was obvious at this point that everyone thought I was a Slytherin. Draco Malfoy appeared to be my friend, and he even knew my parents' names. Parents that he claimed worked for the ministry, which could only mean that they must be wizards… But if they were wizards, that meant I was a pureblood. No wonder Malfoy could stand to be in my presence.

Currently exhausted, I just knew I needed to sleep. And hope that when I woke up, I'd realize this was all a dream.

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Reviews are lovely.**


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